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The Favourite Game
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The Favourite Game Paperback - 2000

by Leonard Cohen


Summary

This warm and lyrical semi-autobiographical first novel by singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen charts the coming of age of Lawrence Breavman, the only son of a Jewish Montreal family.'Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the world is made flesh.'Lawrence Breavman seeks two things: love and beauty. Beginning with the innocent games of delicious misadventure with first love Lisa and the absorbing wanders through Montreal with best friend Krantz, Breavman's tale is a distant echo of 'Catcher in the Rye' and 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' – injected with 1960s aesthetics and Cohen's unique poetry. As Breavman grows into a young man, the emerging writer continues his quest for beauty and love, finding himself in the arms of Shell and a burgeoning realisation of his own talent for appreciating majesty in the grotesque. Semi-autobiographical, the angst and beauty of Cohen's voice deftly channel the painful confusion of the journey into adulthood, and the friendships, wars and lovers that are our guides.

From the publisher

Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. He received his B.A. from McGill University and pursued graduate studies in English at Columbia University. Soon thereafter, he returned to Montreal and worked in his family’s clothing business while he continued to write poetry.

His artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of Let Us Compare Mythologies. He has published nine collections of poetry, most recently, Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs (1993), and two novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966). During the sixties he achieved national and international acclaim as a composer-singer. He has made seventeen albums, the latest being Dear Heather (2004). Numerous tribute albums, in many languages, have celebrated his songs.

Cohen was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1991, and promoted to the rank of Companion in 2003. He received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 1993, and has won numerous Juno Awards.

Details

  • Title The Favourite Game
  • Author Leonard Cohen
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Thus
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Date 2000-09-01
  • ISBN 9780771022012 / 0771022018
  • Weight 0.58 lbs (0.26 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.36 x 5.38 x 0.69 in (21.23 x 13.67 x 1.75 cm)
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

“Is there any Canadian novel as compelling and as good at capturing youthful anxieties as J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye? Absolutely.…Leonard Cohen’s first novel, The Favourite Game.…One of the 10 best Canadian novels of the 20th century.…”
Globe and Mail (January 2000)

The Favourite Game is a morally brave book, intimate and unflinching.…Leonard Cohen sustains the highest level of poetic craftsmanship throughout.”
— Paul Quarrington

“He is a writer of terrific energy and colour, a Rabelaisian comic and a visualiser of some memorable scenes.”
The Observer (U.K.)

“It is the kind of book that becomes a law unto itself, simply because there is nothing with which to compare it.”
Calgary Albertan

About the author

LEONARD COHEN's artistic career began in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. He published two novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, and ten previous books of poetry, including Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs and Book of Longing. During a recording career that spanned almost fifty years, he released fourteen studio albums, the last of which, You Want It Darker, was released in 2016. Cohen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature and the Glenn Gould Prize in 2011. He died on November 7, 2016.
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The Favourite Game
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Favourite Game

by Leonard Cohen

  • Used
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Used - Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780771022012 / 0771022018
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The Favourite Game
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The Favourite Game

by Leonard Cohen

  • Used
Condition
Used - Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780771022012 / 0771022018
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The Favourite Game

The Favourite Game

by Leonard Cohen

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780771022012 / 0771022018
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The Favourite Game

The Favourite Game

by Cohen, Leonard

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780771022012 / 0771022018
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The Favourite Game
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The Favourite Game

by Leonard Cohen

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9780771022012 / 0771022018
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McClelland & Stewart, 2003. Pages: 245; Weight: 9.8oz; Size: 8.7" x 5.5" x 0.7". Very light edgewear and rubbing on cover, otherwise clean, unmarked, tight. . Very Good. Soft Cover. . . .
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The Favourite Game
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Favourite Game

by Leonard Cohen

  • Used
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  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Edition
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Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780771022012 / 0771022018
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